Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a striker who would be hard for any team in the Prem to replace but Marouane Fellaini offers the aerial power

But I think Mourinho might just be tempted to replace him against Chelsea with the most similar player he has in his arsenal in terms of size and power — and that’s the Belgian midfielder.

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The reason? Well, Chelsea are so good defensively on the floor, with N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic cutting out passes, breaking up play and pressing, that United might want to bypass the midfield and play a longer game.

I can see Fellaini sticking to Cesar Azpilicueta, the smallest member of Chelsea’s back three, and United hitting balls up to him and then trying to pick up the knock-downs.

For this to work, they need Paul Pogba, Juan Mata or Henrikh Mkhitaryan to get around Fellaini. It won’t be successful if he’s isolated.

Ibrahimovic has been an outstanding success up front in his first Prem season

The front three of Chelsea — Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Pedro — play very narrow, allowing the wing-backs the width. So the United full-backs need to tuck in and make sure the centre-backs don’t end up three v two.